Apparatus for loading bottles into cartons

ABSTRACT

Bottles or similar articles are placed in a pre-selected array from peripheral side surfaces of a wheel rotatably mounted about a horizontal axis. The bottles are held in position on the wheel by guides that protrude outwardly from the wheel side surfaces beyond the centers of gravity of the bottles to prevent tipping of the bottles until after the guides have been rotated through a horizontal orientation. After each side surface of the wheel receives a load of articles at a loading position, the wheel is momentarily released to permit limited rotational movement of the wheel about its axis due to the unbalance of the loads resting on its side surfaces. Open cartons are sequentially fed along guides that lead to a holding position tangential and outwardly adjacent to an angular position of the wheel side surfaces offset from their loading position. A reciprocating apparatus at the holding position selectively engages each carton to insert at least a portion of the load of bottles on the adjacent wheel side surface within the carton boundaries. The carton and partially inserted bottles are held in position by additional guides during further rotational movement of the wheel and are released after being inverted beneath the wheel axis.

United States Patent 1 91 Pearson 11 3,744,213 1451 July 10,1973

[5 4] APPARATUS FOR LOADING BOTTLES INTO CARTONS Reinhold A. Pearson, 304 E. 2nd Avenue, Spokane, Wash. 99202 [22] Filed: Oct. 21, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 82,558

[76] Inventor:

[52] US. Cl ..53/243, 53/247 [51] Int. Cl ..B65b 5/08, B65b 21/14 [58] Field of Search....53/26, 35, 166, 243, 246, 250,

Primary Examiner-Robert L. Spruill Att0rneyWells, St. John & Roberts [57] ABSTRACT Bottles or similar articles are placed in a pre-selected array from peripheral side surfaces of a wheel rotatably mounted about a horizontal axis. The bottles are held in position on the wheel by guides that protrude outwardly from the wheel side surfaces beyond the centers of gravity of the bottles to prevent tipping of the bottles until after the guides have been rotated through a horizontal orientation. After each side surface of the wheel receives a load of articles at a loading position, the wheel is momentarily released to permit limited rotational movement of the wheel about its axis due to the unbalance of the loads resting on its side surfaces. Open cartons are sequentially fed along guides that lead to a holding position tangential and outwardly adjacent to an angular position of the wheel side surfaces offset from their loading position. A reciprocating apparatus at the holding position selectively engages each carton to insert at least a portion of the load of bottles on the adjacent wheel side surface within the caiton'boundaries. The carton and partially inserted bottles are held in position by additional guides during further rotational movement of the wheel and are released after being inverted beneath the wheel axis.

4 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENIE JUL 1 0 ma III! I l l INVENTOR; FEM/HOLD A. PEARSON BY M ATTYS.

PAH-1min JUL 1 01975 sum 3 or 3 INVENTOR. v REM/HOLD A. pmeoom ATTYJ.

APPARATUS FOR LOADING BOTTLES INTO CARTONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The disclosure herein relates to an improvement in the apparatus disclosed in my co-pending patent application, Ser. No. 7,5 80, filed Feb. 2, 1970 now US. Pat. No. 3,589,094, granted June 29, 1971. While the complete apparatus will be generally discussed herein, reference may be made to this prior disclosure for a more complete description of those portions of the apparatus not essential to an understanding of the present improvement.

The apparatus previously disclosed by me essentially comprises a mechanical device for inserting a charge of articles within an open carton by placing each charge of articles onto a side surface of a polygonal wheel, indexing the side surface progressively about the wheel axis, and tangentially placing open cartons over the successive charges of articles prior to inverting the articles. In the previously disclosed embodiments, the articles, whether cans, bottles or similar containers or objects are placed within rectangular open cartons. No particular provision was made for carton dividers. However, in the case of bottles or other articles made of glass or fragile materials, it is essential that a divider be provided within the carton between adjacent bottles to prevent damage to the bottles during handling and shipping. The present apparatus was designed specifically to facilitate the handling of bottles and their insertion into carton containing dividers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The improvement herein relates to the structure for holding the bottles on the wheel side surfaces. It relates specifically to the height relationship between the guides that maintain the relative positions of the bottles on the wheel, and the bottle height. It also includes provision for the forward guide on each side surface to engage the inner surfaces of a carton placed over it so as to move the carton and wheel side surface in unison. The invention further contemplates a reciprocating apparatus for shifting each carton toward the wheel to partially receive a charge of bottles without interference of the bottles and carton dividers.

It is a first object of this invention to provide a gravity-operated loading apparatus for bottles which facilitates the entry of the bottles into a carton contain ing a divider grid, partitions, or divided cases utilized to prevent direct engagement of adjacent bottles within the carton.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for shifting cartons onto a charge of containers after each carton is located tangentially outward of the charge at the periphery of a rotatable wheel.

These and further objects will be evident from a study of the following disclosure, taken also with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred form of the invention. It is to be understood that the invention itself is not to be limited except as it is defined by the claims appended hereto.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of the apparatus; FIG. 2 is a top view of the apparatus as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3, illustrating the insertion of a charge of bottles within a receiving carton; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5, illustrating the charge of bottles and carton in a subsequent angular position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The apparatus disclosed herein is designed specifically for loading bottles, whether empty or filled, into a paperboard carton. It may be used at a bottle manufacturing plant for loading empty bottles into receiving cartons which will subsequently be emptied by the user of the bottles. The bottles are received in the cartons in an inverted or up-side-down condition, eliminating the reception of foreign material into the empty bottles during shipment and storage prior to use. The disclosed form of the invention relates specifically to bottles such as are used in the sale of beer or soft drinks, but the apparatus can be adapted to handle differing objects of any suitable scale by modifying the size and shape of the apparatus components to accommodate the size and shape of the objects and cartons within which they are to be received.

The apparatus is supported by a rigid framework 10. The main operating component of the apparatus is a multi-sided wheel 11 fixed to a central shaft 12. The shaft 12 is rotatably journalled by bearings 13 mounted on the framework 10. Bearings 13 support shaft 12 and wheel 11 for rotational movement about a horizontal axis. In the specific embodiment shown, the axis of shaft 12 is aligned longitudinally with the machine and is oriented parallel to the path of incoming objects.

The wheel comprises a plurality of radial spokes 14 which support outwardly facing sides including outwardly directed wheel surfaces 15. Each surface 15 lies in a plane that is parallel to the axis of shaft 12. The surfaces 15 are equiangularly spaced about the axis of shaft 12 and adjacent surfaces 15 intersect one another along lines that are parallel to the axis of shaft 12. The front and rear edges of the respective surfaces 15 lie in longitudinally spaced planes which are perpendicular to the axis of shaft 12.

The surfaces 15 are adapted to receive articles such as bottles, which are aligned in parallel longitudinal rows. To maintain proper positioning of the objects, a plurality of parallel guides 16 are fixed to and extend outwardly from each of the wheel side surfaces 15. The surfaces of the guides 16 serve to define rows along the wheel side surfaces 15 and retain the articles thereon in their desired relative positions. Lateral guides 19 on framework 10 prevent bottle movement along guides 16.

A conventional slip clutch or brake 17 is mounted to the framework 10 and is operatively connected to shaft 12. Brake 17 is provided for manual adjustment of the rotational speed of the wheel 11 due to gravitational forces when loaded at one side thereof. Indexing of wheel 11 is accomplished by brackets 18 fixed to the forward set of spokes l4 and by a cooperating stop 20 on framework 10.

Articles are delivered onto the uppermost surface of the wheel 11 by the upper flight of an incoming conveyor shown at 21. The articles are pushed onto a coplanar receiving plate 22 having an upper surface at an elevation identical to the elevation of each wheel surface 15 when in its top horizontal loading position. Longitudinal conveyor guides 23 are fixed to framework immediately above the conveyor 21 to maintain objects on conveyor 21 in desired rows during movement of the wheel 11. Guides 23 and 16 are respectively aligned at the loading position of each wheel side surface 15.

After loading of articles onto wheel 11, it is necessary to prevent further forward movement of the remaining articles or containers due to the action of conveyor 21. This is accomplished in the illustrated example by means of a shaft 24 which has a plurality of eccentric earns 25 fixed to it immediately above the plate 22. The earns 25 are transversely spaced between guides 23 so as to be capable of engaging objects located between guides 23.

The shaft 24 and cams 25 are rotated by a linkage including a double-acting cylinder assembly 26 that is pivotally connected to a short crank arm 27 fixed to one end of the upper shaft 24. Extension of the cylinder assembly 26 will cause shaft 24 to pivot and this pivotal movement will result in the cams 25 engaging the rows of containers not received on the wheel 1 1.

Operation of the cylinder assembly 26 is governed by article sensing means in the form of a number of limit switches 31 positioned immediately forward of the wheel 11 and also centered between the guides 23 and 16. The limit switches 31 are connected in series, so that all of the switches 31 must be activated by contact with objects on the wheel 11 prior to operation of the cylinder assembly 26. Since the objects must be pushed onto the wheel 11 from the conveyor 21, actuation of each limit switch 31 indicates the presence of a full row of articles or containers from the front end of conveyor 21 to the front edge of wheel 11.

Cartons are delivered to the apparatus from above by a suitable carton delivery conveyor (not shown). The conveyor directs the downwardly open cartons in abutting positions through a vertical chute, defined by front, rear, and side carton guides 38. The guides 38 present an upright magazine and are spaced on framework 10 in such fashion as to maintain the open cartons in a continuous row, the lower carton in the row being normally held by spring side clips 40 at a holding position outwardly adjacent to wheel 11. Clips 40 prevent continued downward movement of empty cartons, but are sufficiently resilient to permit movement of a carton past the holding position upon subjection of the carton to a moving force as will be described below.

Immediately beneath the magazine formed by the guides 38 are a plurality of rods 41 which serve to guide the carton and contents during rotation of wheel 11 after engagement of a carton at the holding position. The rods 41 maintain the carton in place after partial insertion of the bottles or other articles therein. The guide surfaces defined by rods 41 are located from the wheel axis by a distance equal to the maximum carton radius on the wheel. Release of the cartons is accomplished at the lower ends of rods 41, which terminate at a longitudinal conveyor 44. Conveyor 44 is a receiving conveyor for carrying the carton and its inverted contents from the apparatus for storing or shipping purposes.

At the lower ends of guides 38 is a reciprocating apparatus best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. It comprises a double-acting cylinder 50 mounted by a bracket 51 on the framework 10. The piston rod 52 of the cylinder assembly 50 is aligned in a horizontal direction and carries a horizontal U-shaped bracket 53 at its outer end. The bracket 53 in turn supports two protruding rollers 54 adapted to engage individual cartons at the loading position defined by guides 38 and clips 40. Brackets 53 extend inwardly toward wheel 11 along outer extensions 55 which are hinged outwardly of the side carton guides 38 by means of upright connecting arms 56 pivoted to the framework. Arms 56 and extensions 55 lie outward of the carton path and serve to support and guide the desired movement of rollers 54.

Shifting of cartons when engaged by rollers 54 is further facilitated by a pair of inwardly positioned rollers 58 which are mounted about fixed axes at the upper end of rods 41. As can be seen in FIG. 5, each carton comes to rest on the upper surfaces of rollers 58 when held by the spring clips 40, and the cartons roll on rollers 53 upon extension of the cylinder assembly 50, which shifts the carton toward the wheel 1 1.

When handling bottles, it is essential that the bottles not be allowed to tip prematurely on wheel 11 until at least partially received within the confines of a receiving carton. This is accomplished by extending each of the guides 16 outward from the surfaces 15 a distance at least equal to the separation between the centers of gravity of the bottles or other articles above surfaces 15. The guides 16 between adjacent rows of bottles donot extend the full height of the bottles, so as to provide clearance for the reception of intermediate dividers located within the receiving carton structure. However, the first guide 16a in each group of guides 16, located at the front edge of each surface 15, does preferably extend the full height of the articles or bottles. This guide 16a is received within the boundaries of a carton placed over the bottles and serves to engage the inner carton surfaces to move the carton in unison with wheel 1 1 about the axis of shaft 12.

The method of this disclosure and operation of the apparatus is generally as follows. Rows of objects such as bottles 42 are directed from the conveyor 21 onto the upper horizontal wheel surface 15. When each row across the wheel surface is full, the switches 31 will actuate the cylinder assembly 26 to retain the remaining objects or bottles 42 as previously discussed. The stop 20 is then released, permitting wheel 11 to begin rotational movement about the axis of shaft 12. Because the wheel 11 will normally be unloaded at the side shown to the left in FIGS. 1 and 2, the gravitational forces due to the weight of the containers and cartons will rotate wheel 11 in a counterclockwise direction as indicated by arrow 45.

The path of carton 43 within the guides 38 is tangential to the path of the bottles 42 during rotation of wheel 11, but is outwardly adjacent to the bottles. Each carton 43 is stopped at a holding position illustrated in full lines in FIG. 5, tangential and outwardly adjacent to the location of a load of bottles 42 on the side surface of wheel 11. After the carton and load of bottles is stationary in the position shown in FIG. 5, cylinder 50 is actuated to shift rollers 54 to the right to the position shown in dashed lines, thereby engaging carton 43 and shifting it inwardly toward wheel 11. This movement inserts at least a portion of the load of bottles into the carton boundaries, and locates the first guide 16a inwardly adjacent to the forward walls of the carton. The amount of movement effected by carton 43 will depend upon the height of inner dividers located within carton 43, which would interfere with guides 16 if the carton 43 were placed completely over the bottles 42. I have found it unnecessary to completely insert the bottles at the holding position, and have found that complete insertion can be readily accomplished during subsequent rotation of wheel 11, thereby eliminating any possible interference between inner carton dividers and the guides 16 that maintain the bottles in position on surface 15.

The continued rotation of wheel 11 causesthe engaged carton to be pulled downwardly beyond the holding position, moving through the spring clips 40 and along the rods 41 previously described. The cartons 43 are maintained in their inwardly shifted position relative to the axis of wheel 11 by the arcuate rods 41 which engage the bottom carton surfaces.

Wheel 11 continues to pivot or rotate on a step-bystep basis as each side surface 15 of wheel 1 1 is filled by bottles being placed thereon at the top loading position. The carton and bottles continue downwardly about the left side of the wheel 11 as shown in FIG. 6. Because of the extended height of the intermediate guides 16, the bottles 42 will not tip until after the guides 16 have passed the horizontal position or orientation shown in FIG. 6. After passing through the position shown in FIG. 6, the bottles 42 will slide along guides 16 and into the carton 43, being received between the carton dividers during such insertion. The cartons and bottles continue downwardly until discharged onto the upper surface of the receiving conveyor 44. Carton 43 is received on conveyor 44 in an upright open condition, with the bottles being inverted from their original position on conveyor 21. The filled carton 43 travels longitudinally to clear wheel 11 for further rotational movement. The speed of conveyor 44 is preferably slower than the angular speed of the cartons 43 as they move about the axis of wheel 11. This difference in speed results in each carton 43 being slowed by engagement upon the conveyor 44. The resulting pause insures that each bottle 42 falls between guides 16 and is inserted within the carton 43 at the bottom of wheel 11, if it has not gradually moved into carton 43 prior to such action.

Various changes might be made in the size relation of the elements, choice of conveyor design, manner of feeding or guiding the bottles or other objects, without modifying the disclosed improvement in the loading apparatus. The present disclosure is not to be limited to any of the above details, except as the invention disclosed herein is set out in the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a carton loading apparatus for placing a preselected charge of articles within open cartons of the type comprising:

a framework;

a polygonal wheel rotatably mounted on said framework about a horizontal axis, said wheel having a multi-sided periphery including a plurality of outwardly facing side surfaces arranged about said axis;

indexing means on said framework operatively connected to said wheel for permitting intermittent rotational movement of said wheel about its axis and for sequentially fixing the angular position of the wheel relative to the framework with one wheel side surface at a loading position;

an article delivery conveyor on said framework including means for placing a charge of articles upon each of the wheel side surfaces while the respective wheel side surface is at the loading position;

carton placement means on said framework for selectively inserting each load of articles on the wheel side surfaces into an individual carton at an angular position about said axis displaced from said loading position;

the improvement in said carton placement means comprising:

carton guide means on said framework for sequentially feeding individual cartons to a holding position tangential and outwardly adjacent to the location of a load of articles at said last-named angular position;

and means on said framework engageable with a carton at said holding position for shifting the carton so engaged inwardly toward said wheel to thereby insert at least a portion of the load of articles at said last-named angular position into the carton boundaries.

2. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 further comprising:

a receiving conveyor having a flight thereof extending under said wheel and leading outwardly therefrom;

and a guide apparatus alongside the wheel in its direction of rotation from said loading position, in cluding upright surfaces spaced from the wheel axis at a distance equal to the carton radius on the wheel subsequent to shifting thereof by said lastnamed means, said surfaces extending downwardly from a location outward of the lower end of a wheel side surface at said last-named angular position and leading to said conveyor flight.

3. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 wherein said article delivery conveyor extends along a direction parallel to the wheel axis;

conveyor guides on said framework vertically adjacent to the upper flight of the conveyor for maintaining the articles in longitudinal parallel rows;

and outwardly protruding guides on each of said wheel surfaces respectively aligned with said conveyor guides when the respective sidesurfaces are at the loading position;

the first of said guides along each wheel side surface in the intended direction of rotation of said wheel about said axis protruding outwardly therefrom a distance substantially equal to the projection of said articles when resting against said side surfaces.

4. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 wherein said article delivery conveyor extends along a direction parallel to the wheel axis;

conveyor guides on said framework vertically adjacent to the upper flight of the conveyor for maintaining the articles in longitudinal parallel rows;

and outwardly protruding guides on each of said wheel surfaces respectively aligned with said conveyor guides when the respective side surfaces are at the loading position;

between the article centers of gravity and the side surfaces when the articles are resting against the side surfaces. 

1. In a carton loading apparatus for placing a pre-selected charge of articles within open cartons of the type comprising: a framework; a polygonal wheel rotatably mounted on said framework about a horizontal axis, said wheel having a multi-sided periphery including a plurality of outwardly facing side surfaces arranged about said axis; indexing means on said framework operatively connected to said wheel for permitting intermittent rotational movement of said wheel about its axis and for sequentially fixing the angular position of the wheel relative to the framework with one wheel side surface at a loading position; an article delivery conveyor on said framework including means for placing a charge of articles upon each of the wheel side surfaces while the respective wheel side surface is at the loading position; carton placement means on said framework for selectively inserting each load of articles on the wheel side surfaces into an individual carton at an angular position about said axis displaced from said loading position; the improvement in said carton placement means comprising: carton guide means on said framework for sequentially feeding individual cartons to a holding position tangential and outwardly adjacent to the location of a load of articles at said last-named angular position; and means on said framework engageable with a carton at said holding position for shifting the carton so engaged inwardly toward said wheel to thereby insert at least a portion of the load of articles at said last-named angular position into the carton boundaries.
 2. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 further comprising: a receiving conveyor having a flight thereof extending under said wheel and leading outwardly therefrom; and a guide apparatus alongside the wheel in its direction of rotation from said loading position, including upright surfaces spaced from the wheel axis at a distance equal tO the carton radius on the wheel subsequent to shifting thereof by said last-named means, said surfaces extending downwardly from a location outward of the lower end of a wheel side surface at said last-named angular position and leading to said conveyor flight.
 3. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 wherein said article delivery conveyor extends along a direction parallel to the wheel axis; conveyor guides on said framework vertically adjacent to the upper flight of the conveyor for maintaining the articles in longitudinal parallel rows; and outwardly protruding guides on each of said wheel surfaces respectively aligned with said conveyor guides when the respective side surfaces are at the loading position; the first of said guides along each wheel side surface in the intended direction of rotation of said wheel about said axis protruding outwardly therefrom a distance substantially equal to the projection of said articles when resting against said side surfaces.
 4. An apparatus as set out in claim 1 wherein said article delivery conveyor extends along a direction parallel to the wheel axis; conveyor guides on said framework vertically adjacent to the upper flight of the conveyor for maintaining the articles in longitudinal parallel rows; and outwardly protruding guides on each of said wheel surfaces respectively aligned with said conveyor guides when the respective side surfaces are at the loading position; the minimum projection of said guides from said wheel side surfaces being greater than the spacing between the article centers of gravity and the side surfaces when the articles are resting against the side surfaces. 